In anatomy, the skull is the hard bony structure that protects the brain from damage and gives the head its shape.

Humans
In humans, the skull is the uppermost portion of the human skeleton. It is made up of a number of bony parts - 7 in the skull proper (neurocranium) and 14 in the facial area (splanchnocranium). There are five main skull sections - one occipital, two frontal, two parietal. The sections are fused together in adults along sutures - metopic, coronal, sagittal and lambdoid. At birth these sutures are fibrous and moveable, necessary for birth and later growth. At the points where sutures meet are fontanelles, the main ones are the anterior and posterior. The anterior fontanelle is at the junction of the frontal and parietal bones, it is a 'soft spot' on the heads of babies that can remain up to around two years of age.